Remote control system for automotive vehicles



Nov. 26, 1963 A. w. NEAVILLE 3,

REMOTE CONTROL SYSTEM FOR AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLES Filed April 5, 1961 United States Patent 3,112,004 REMOTE CONTROL SYSTEM FOR AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLES Arthur W. Neaville, 912 S. Rock Hill Road, Webster Groves 19, Mo. Filed Apr. 5, 1961, Ser. No. 101,001 Claims. (Cl. 180-82) This invention relates to remote control systems, and more particularly to such systems for engine-driven vehicles where the controlling intelligence is transmitted by means of infrared carrier waves.

Among the several objects of this invention may be noted the provision of a remote control system in which a vehicle may be selectively stopped by an operator at a position remote from the vehicle by Wireless means; the provision of a remote control system of the class described which employs an infrared carrier and in which the receiver component thereof is insensitive to infrared signals which are not modulated in accordance with a preselected pattern; the provision of a remote control sys tem in which a remote vehicle engine can be stopped notwithstanding that the desire of the operator of said controlled vehicle may be to the contrary; the provision of such a remote system in which the vehicle engine may be restarted after a predetermined delay after stopping it; and the provision of methods for selectively disabling a motor vehicle from a remote position. Other objects and features will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the constructions and methods hereinafter described, the scope of the invention being indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which several of various possible embodiments of the invention are illustrated,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of two vehicles equipped with the remote control system of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the receiver portion of the control system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the transmitting portion of the remote control system shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of one portion of another embodiment of the present invention.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

it has become increasingly apparent within the past few years that a reliable and economical system for selectively stopping or halting moving vehicles from a remote position would be a highly desirable and beneficial trafiic and law enforcement tool. In accordance with the present invention such a system has been developed which permits an authorized person or agency to halt any moving vehicle (even contrary to the wishes of the driver thereof) which is equipped with a component portion of the remote control system disclosed herein. Thus a police ofiicer equipped with a transmitting portion component of the present invention and located at a fixed position near a highway or in another vehicle moving along a road can selectively halt another vehicle equipped with the receiver portion and associated components of the present invention.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings which 3,1 12,004 Patented Nov. 26, 1963 ice illustrate prefer-red embodiments of the present invention, reference character A designates a controlled vehicle and B designates a controlling vehicle, each of which is conventionally constructed and operated except that they are modified as described below to include components of the remote control system of this invention.

Securely mounted on the vehicle -A and directed generally rearwardly, is an infrared receiver 11. This receiver 11 includes a focusing lens 13, an optical filter 15 for purposes of eliminating visible light, a detecting cell 17, a tuned amplifier 19, and a relay 21 having a set of normally open contacts *23, 25. As can be seen in FIG. 2, the filter 15 is interposed between the lens 13 and the cell 17 which in turn is directly coupled electrically to the amplifier 19. The coil of relay 21 is electrically connected to the output terminals of amplifier 19. Thus, when an electromagnetic radiation signal in the infrared spectrum, which is modulated or coded in a preselected pattern or at a frequency which matches that to which amplifier 19' is tuned, is received and detected by receiver i1, relay 21 is actuated by the output of said amplifier, and the contacts 2-3, 25 will close. It should be noted here that the particular manner in which the individual components of the receiver '11 are mounted therein has no direct bearing on this invention, and accordingly said components are described only so far as required to show their operation in the present invention in combination with other units.

The vehicle A is also conventionally provided with a battery 27 having a positive terminal 29 and a chassisgrounded terminal 31. Operatively mounted in the vehicle A is an engine 33 to which fuel F from a fuel tank 35 is fed through a fuel line 37 by a fuel pump 39. Interposed between fuel tank 35 and the fuel pump 3% is a normally open, electrically closable fuel valve 41 which provides a passage 43 between an inlet port 45, which is directly coupled to the fuel line 37, and an outlet port 47 which is directly coupled to a second length of fuel line 49, which in turn is connected to fuel pump 39. The valve 41 integrally includes an electrically operated means 5 such as a solenoid valve, for blocking the passage 43 upon the applying of a voltage across a pair of terminals 53, 55. Preferably valve 41 includes a time delay mechanism, such as a dash pot, which reopens the valve in a predetermined time period after it is electrically deenergized. However, any customary solenoid-operated valve without a time delay mechanism may be employed at 41 provided, of course, that it is designed to interrupt the flow of fuel to engine 33 upon energization by the voltage of battery 27.

In the making of the electrical connections required in the vehicle A, the positive terminal 29 of the battery 27 is connected to contact 23 of the relay 21 through a conductor 57. Contact 25 of the relay 21 is connected to the terminal 53 of the valve 41 through a conductor 59, and terminal 55 of said valve is chassis-grounded to the vehicle A in a manner similar to the terminal 31 of the battery 27 to complete the circuit.

The transmitting portion 60 of the remote control system is shown in FIG. 3 as comprising an infrared transmitter which is preferably mounted on the top of a second vehicle B, so that it may be adjustably directed or controlled manually by an operator from within vehicle B to direct its modulated coded collimated infrared radiation beam as desired. It will be understood that this transmitter 60 may be positioned at a fixed location such as a rise near a highway commanding a line-of-sight path to vehicles such as B traveling thereover. Power from a conventional vehicular battery 61 is supplied from a hot terminal 63 via a wire 64 and a manually operable switch 66 to one power terminal 67 of transmitter 60. The electrical circuit for transmitter 60 is completed via the chassis of vehicle B between a chassis-grounded battery terminal 65 and a second power input terminal 69 In operation, the tuned amplifier 19 of the receiver 11 and the transmitter 60 are adjusted to receive and transmit respectively compatible coded signals. The vehicles A and B may then be operated independently until such time as the operator of the vehicle B desires that the vehicle A be halted whereupon the operator of the vehicle B actuates the switch 66, causing energization of transmitter 60 and directing the collimated beam of coded infrared radiation at the receiver 11 on the vehicle A. As the beam of infrared energy strikes the receiver 11, the lens 13 causes the beam to be focused on the cell 17 through the filter 15 which removes random visible light. The cell 17 supplies the input of the amplifier 19 with the properly coded signal and the relay 21 is actuated by the output of the amplifier 19. Upon such actuation, the contacts 23, 25 close and electrical power from the battery 27 is applied to the electrically operated valve 41. When so energized valve 41 interrupts the flow of fuel to engine 33 and stops vehicle A. The time delayed reopening of valve 41 will permit the valve to reopen and pass fuel to engine 33 after a predetermined time period, The impingement of infrared radiation upon lens 13, other than that modulated in accordance with the preselected pattern, will not actuate valve 41. Thus, random infrared radiation will not effect operation of the receiver to halt the vehicle.

Referring now in more detail to FIG. 4, a second embodiment of my invention is shown wherein coded infrared transmissions are used to accomplish the deactivation of the ignition system of a vehicle A, thereby causing the loss of its motive power.

In similar fashion to the vehicle A, the vehicle A includes a receiver 11 integrally provided with a focusing lens 13, an optical filter 15', an infrared detecting cell 17, a tuned amplifier 19, and a relay 21 which includes a set of normally open contacts 23', 25, said parts being identical in description, installation and operation to the correspondingly numbered parts in the vehicle A. In addition, the vehicle A includes a battery 27 having a positive terminal 29 and a chassis-grounded terminal 31; a conductor cable 57 directly connects the positive terminal 29 to the open contact 23 of the relay 21.

Vehicle A is powered by an internal combustion engine 33 having a conventional ignition system which includes a spark coil 103 having an input terminal 105, an output terminal 107, and a distributor 169 which sequentially connects the output of the spark coil 103 through an input terminal 111 to the various spark plugs 113.

Mounted on the vehicle A is a relay 115 including a pair of normally closed contacts 117, 119, which remain closed until the switch 115 is actuated by applying a voltage across a pair of control terminals 121, 123. Preferably, though not necessarily, the switch 115 includes an automatic time delay resetting mechanism.

The electrical connections in the vehicle A are as follows: contact 25 of the relay 21' is directly connected by a conductor 125 to control terminal 121 of the switch 115; control terminal 123 of the switch 115 is chassis-grounded; the input terminal 105 of the spark coil 103 is connected to the positive terminal 29' of the battery 27 through the contacts 117 and 119 of relay 115 and an ignition switch 127. The output terminal 107 is connected to the input terminal 111 of the distributor 109.

When the operator of the vehicle B desires to stop vehicle A transmitter 60 is placed in operation by actuation of the switch 66 and the beam is directed at the receiver 11. Said beam then is focused on the cell 17 by the lens 13 and filtered by the filter 15'. The amplitier 19 having previously been tuned to accept the particular coded signal from the cell 17 then supplies actuating power to the relay 21 which in turn causes the closing of the contacts 23, 25. The closing of the contacts 23, 25 applies the battery potential across control terminals 121, 123, of relay to actuate it. Thereupon the normally closed contacts 117, 119, are opened and the spark coil 103 is deenergized thereby electrically disabling engine 33. If relay 115 is of the time delay type even momentary reception of a coded transmission will disable vehicle A for an appreciable period of time and after the preselected delay the contacts of relay 115 will automatically reclose and permit restarting of vehicle A.

In view of the above, it will be seen that the several objects of the invention are achieved and other advantageous results attained.

As various changes could be made in the above constructions and methods without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A remote control system for an automotive vehicle having an engine with an ignition circuit and a liquid fuel supply system, an infrared radiation receiver mounted on said vehicle adapted to supply an electrical output signal only upon reception of an infrared signal modulated in accordance with a preselected pattern, an infrared transmitter located at a position remote from said receiver for selectively transmitting an infrared signal beam modulated in accordance with said preselected pattern, means responsive to said output signal connected to the vehicle engine for disabling it upon reception of said radiation signal modulated in said preselected pattern, and delay means associated with said disabling means for automatically deactuating said disabling means after a predetermined delay whereby the vehicle can be stopped by transmitting such a modulated radiation signal to said receiver, and the vehicle engine may be restarted after said predetermined delay.

2. A remote control system as set forth in claim 1 in which the disabling means comprises an electrical relay having a set of electrical contacts series-connected in the ignition circuit for opening said ignition circuit.

3. A remote control system as set forth in claim 1 in which the disabling means includes an electrically actuated solenoid valve connected in said fuel system for interrupting the flow of fuel to the engine.

4. A remote control system for an automotive vehicle having an engine with a liquid fuel supply system, said remote control system comprising an infrared radiation receiver mounted on said vehicle adapted to supply an electrical output signal only upon reception of an infrared signal modulated in accordance with a preselected pattern, an infrared transmitter located at a position remote from said receiver and adapted to selectively transmit an infrared signal modulated in accordance with said preselected pattern, an electrically actuated solenoid valve connected in said fuel supply system for interrupting, in response to an output signal supplied by said receiver, the flow of liquid fuel to said engine whereby the engine of said vehicle can be disabled by the transmitting of an infrared signal from said transmitter, and delay means associated with said electrically actuated solenoid valve for automatically deactuating said solenoid valve after a predetermined delay after actuation thereof, whereby liquid fuel is permitted to flow to said engine after said predetermined delay.

5. A remote control system for an automotive vehicle 5 having an engine with a liquid fuel supply system comprising a receiver mounted on said vehicle adapted to supply an electrical out-put signal only upon reception of a signal modulated in accordance with a preselected pattern, a transmitter located at a position remote from said receiver and adapted to selectively transmit a signal modulated in accordance with said preselected pattern, an electrically actuated solenoid valve connected in said fuel supply system for interrupting, in response to an output signal supplied by said receiver, the flow of liquid fuel to said engine whereby the engine of said vehicle may be disabled by the transmitting of a signal from said transmitter, and delay means associated with said electrically actuated interrupting valve adapted to automatically deactuate said interrupting valve after a predetermined delay after actuation thereof whereby liquid fuel is permitted to flow to said engine after said predetermined delay. a

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Betz May 14, Huebscher Nov. 5, .Kolb June 27, Williams Jan. 23, Goldsmith July 23, ,Capen Oct. 28, Keeton et al. Oct. 20, Peilfer et al. Mar. 12, Rashid Aug. 27, Zwory-kin et al. Aug. 12, Wesch July 21, Hill Nov. 7, 

1. A REMOTE CONTROL SYSTEM FOR AN AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLE HAVING AN ENGINE WITH AN IGNITION CIRCUIT AND A LIQUID FUEL SUPPLY SYSTEM, AN INFRARED RADIATION RECEIVER MOUNTED ON SAID VEHICLE ADAPTED TO SUPPLY AN ELECTRICAL OUTPUT SIGNAL ONLY UPON RECEPTION OF AN INFRARED SIGNAL MODULATED IN ACCORDANCE WITH A PRESELECTED PATTERN, AN INFRARED TRANSMITTER LOCATED AT A POSITION REMOTE FROM SAID RECEIVER FOR SELECTIVELY TRANSMITTING AN INFRARED SIGNAL BEAM MODULATED IN ACCORDANCE WITH SAID PRESELECTED PATTERNS MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID OUTPUT SIGNAL CONNECTED TO THE 